How can I help the homeless and needed.?

Answer 1

maybe you could find a local shelter or something to donate to? i don't think directly giving money to them is a good idea. :/

Answer 2

Most people who are homeless for the long term have mental illness or addiction problems. Improving access to medical treatment for those conditions, without coercion, may help a lot. Low cost housing that is nice would help a lot, with social service help that helps people keep housing and take their meds or get to AA meetings. Maybe I am naive? Currently, there is too much coercion to take meds that have horrible side effects so people just relapse. I am not knowledgeable about addictions, so I won't comment on that.

It is a complicated problem. Some of the concrete advice given here by a person who was actually homeless might help. I'm sure some panhandlers are frauds, and I bet a lot of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder do not ask for help and live under a bridge and don't even access homeless shelters.

Answer 3

By electing officials who will help to change the laws & allocate more money to build housing for low income singles & families. If we get the homeless off the streets, then we won't need as many shelters & the exploitation of the homeless through the "helping hand" agencies will be greatly diminished. Many non-profit organizations will glady take free help from volunteers. The problem with this is that many volunteers only want to use the homeless & needy for their own con games & schemes by stealing their personal info to get id's for purposes of fraud & extortion! Other than that, the best thing to give are low cost food coupons from local restaurants & fast food chains. Shower passes from the YMCA are also appreciated when you live in the streets & if a person wants to give a complete package type of gift, then put together a gift bag with SAMPLE SIZE soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, wash cloth, & a towel. Add a small comb & a pocket manicure set & a pair of shower shoes (99cent thongs) & I guarantee that you have given a gift that will bring a person complete joy! Nothing feels better than being able to bathe without a long line ahead of you or behind you!

Answer 4

Sheryyn seems to have a handle on what is needed in practical terms to make life a little more comfortable. I do know that a major problem for rough sleepers is keeping bedding dry (there are no free places where they can take sleeping bags etc to dry if its been raining) so you could offer them the use of your tumble dryer.

i have worked for youth and refugee projects where homelessness has been a constant problem. NIGHTSTOP often baled us and our service users out when it looked like another night on the path in December was looming.

Have a look at their website, they are good guys and the help is direct and without strings.

To everybody that has played down the need of the homeless, try a couple of nights at minus 5 some time, it might change your sad ,suspicious, god forsaken, little minds.

Answer 5

I try to do little things because I'm not made of money. I am pretty friendly with a couple of the homeless guys near my office, so sometimes I take one of them out to a cheap meal. If I have leftovers from a restaurant meal, I will find a homeless person to give the food to.

Answer 6

I used to do a thing at uni called "the homeless project" where a small group of us would take food out on a monday and friday night. It was cool but you really want to do something long term that can really help them as food only lasts one night. Giving money to "shelter" a homeless charity will help as they help set homeless ppl up with homes and provide shelters (as the name might suggest!). Good luck,
x

Answer 7

Offer your services to The Big Issue.
You must have seen the homeless people selling The Big Issue magazine on the streets. Approach one of them and ask where the local office is. They need as many support workers as they can get.
Well Done for wanting to help and Good Luck for the future.

Answer 8

Thats really nice that you want to help, just beware of the scammers. One day a friend and i were shopping, and we seen this guy standing on a corner with a sign. The sign said, homeless and hungry, anything will help. So we gave him $5.00 bucks. Well we saw him a few hours later walking down the road, so we watched him walk into a parking lot, get into a really new car and drive away. So just be really careful

Answer 9

My father-in-law used to offer every panhandler a free lunch if they would care to join him in a local restaurant. In 40 years of doing this, his offer was NEVER accepted. It seems that the panhandler knew that he/she could get more money by keeping a hand out during lunch time than the cost of the meal. In other words, begging was a business. I tried a variant of that when I lived in Boston. When someone would approach me for bus fare to go home from the streets (that was the popular beggar's plea at the time), I would always offer to drive them. I was never taken up on that in 4 years. I have, however, given money to a beggar who said that he wanted the money for booze. His honesty deserved the donation. If you really want to help, provide support only to halfway houses or organizations that train people for jobs. Money given to individuals only goes for booze or drugs. Even the ones with little children will feed their addictions long before they supply food or shelter for their little ones.

Answer 10

Anything you can offer to the homeless would be helping them, spare change, an old jacket, maybe a granola bar. Trust me, they aren't picky.

Answer 11

Donate your Saturdays to helping a local food kitchen, or free clinic.